On Thursday night, former NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw explained how his childhood spent pheasant hunting on the South Dakota plains landed him in the company of some of the most powerful people in America.

In Dallas, Brokaw attended the 2017 Park Cities Quail Dinner & Auction, where he was presented with the T. Boone Pickens Lifetime Sportsman Award. Previous recipients include George Strait and Ted Turner.

"When Jim Baker was White House chief of staff, secretary of the treasury and secretary of state, we had a very, very strong professional relationship," Brokaw said. "But it was always at a professional level. When I left Nightly News, I got a call from Jim in Houston. He said, 'Brokaw, now we can be friends. I want you to come down and go quail hunting with me.'"

When Brokaw arrived in Texas, he learned that, in addition to Baker, his other hunting partner would be former President George H.W. Bush.

"I became very anxious and nervous when on the first morning, I'm approaching a covey and the dogs are on point," Brokaw said. "I have the former secretary of state on my left and the former president of the United States on my right. And I think, 'I can get in so much damn trouble here. Only shoot blue sky and it's got to be very blue sky.'"

Growing up in a family of modest means, Brokaw loved to bird hunt.

"If you were a working-class kid you had a Remington Wingmaster," he said. "The car dealer's kids had Browning Automatics. They could just keep firing. We kind of looked down on that. We would spend winters out in that harsh part of the world in these cheap Army surplus sleeping bags. It really helped form who I am. Everybody is equalized when you're out doing that kind of thing."

Big bids to fish with Brokaw

In a crowd filled with hunters and outdoorsman, Brokaw offered to auction a personally guided fly-fishing trip to his ranch in Montana. Proceeds would go to a charity for veterans.

As emcee, Channel 8 weatherman Pete Delkus said the bidding would start at $25,000. Brokaw jumped back in surprise and mouthed the word, "Wow."